Sports betting
company bwin extends safe gambling study

Bwin, one of Europe's largest online
sports betting and gambling company, has signed a 5-year
agreement for research collaboration with the Division on
Addictions at the Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical
School Teaching Affiliate. The research will focus on creating
the safest gambling environment, combating problems such as
gambling addiction, while creating an entertaining environment
for the company's customers. "Bwin has taken the industry's
leading position for corporate social responsibility. Their
commitment to the scientific process and unwillingness to take
shortcuts to achieve short-term gains is noteworthy and
indicative of its commitment to the health and welfare of its
subscribers. Through its relationship with the Division on
Addictions, bwin has supported numerous scientific inquiries,
including the first ever scientific longitudinal study of actual
internet gaming behavior, numerous scientific publications, and
editorial position statements. bwin has integrated responsible
gaming efforts into its business practices and made
empirically-supported self-help resources available to its
subscribers," Dr. Howard Shaffer, Associate professor at
Harvard Medical School and Director of the Division on
Addictions, said in a press release distributed by the sports
betting firm.

The online gambling company has been
working with the Harvard affiliate for three years, analyzing
data from 47,000 customers over the period and has signed 5-year
extension of the collaboration. The main focus is to develop an
array of tools and application which would not only battle
existing problems in gambling, but also act proactive in
preventing further emergence of gaming-related problems. "We
need to understand what goes on in consumers' minds and be able
to answer fundamental questions about online gaming based on
scientific evidence - and not based on speculation. Ultimately,
we are interested in creating behavioral models capable of
predicting certain outcomes. Therefore, we are working towards
establishing the scientific foundation that will yield
algorithms capable of identifying risk patterns associated with
disordered gambling so that we can prevent them," said
Manfred Bodner, Co-CEO of the sports betting and gambling
company based in Austria.